Brick-peess



UNTTED sTATEs PATENT Ormea, M

THOMAS CULBERTSONAND GEO. SCOTT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

BRICK-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 7,453, dated June 25, 1850.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS CULBERT- soN and GEORGE SCOTT, of the cityand county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Molding andPressing Bricks, and that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the principle or character which distinguishes ourinvention from all other n things before known and of the manner ofmaking, constructing, and using the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification,

in whichc section of the-:pressingwheelior-, cylinder on an enlargedscale.'w

,STOur herein described invention consists of 'improvements uon a`machine `invented nandpatentediby l' llhomasCulbertson akndbearing`date thelsixteenth day -of May-A,` D! 1846, but the first partfofyourinventionisvapa plicable to other machinesformoldingand` pressing"bricks and other articles made of The molding and pressing of `bricks bymachinery whether from tempered Yor u ntempered` 'clayrhas heretofore`been attended with serious-1: diiiiculty *from `the tendency of the.clay "to adhere `to Athe pressing4 sur` faces "and the" 'sides of 1themolds;` Togavoid this tendency in part these surfaces have beensanded-andotherwisetreated to avoid the? adhesion,` gWehavediscoLveredandi'by repeated trials `established" thatthe heating of theseSurfaces"eifectuallyA avoids Qthev adhesionaof the clay` to the-pressingsurfaces aswell as the `sides ofthe mold, varid `tlleffirst partw of ourinvention-'consists Ain c theajpplii cation of artificial heat to thepressing land Figure 11 isagside elevationg-igi52; aAlongitudinal'verticalzrsection\; Fig. 3, a plan,`

as the carriage of molds approaches its running out motion on eitherside it shall act on the secondary carriage which byA the continuedmotion of the main carriage is carried up inclined ways that in risingit may `act o-n the followers of the mold to elevate them in a verticaldirection only instead of having an oblique act-ion as hereto-fore whichtends to cant them in the mold.

in which the molds are formed or arranged In the accompanying drawings,(A) rep- 1resents the frame and (B) the main carriage` and which slidebetween ways (8,18) formed by the sides of the frame. To the molds are`fitted followers (g) each with two stems g (rar) whichpassthroughholesinthe. `loot-` tom,` of the-moldswhich'l at the propertime fare` actedupon to :force upfthe followers i for the' discharge of Vthe bricksLAfromfthe i moldsmThecarriage offmoldsruns. on the` peripheryi'of tworollers` (a, a) on .the main` driving shaft which `rollersareplacedimmediately `under the ,place wliere thepres. sure-is-fapplied- -Andbetweenwthese two @rollers there is a cog wheel (0)?the3cogs1of,

which engage rthe .cogs of. a" rack ,formed tween thelfstemsof thefollowers ofit-heA fmotionj .of theishaft" (to) the carriage `ofimoldsreceives a reciprocating mo'tin Care should `loe. takento` have vthe` perip-heryl` of =`the`rollers1 (a, da) i on which`thecarriagerests,

lof the diameter 4of the"` pitch line, ofi the ,cog wheel i to ,avoidslipping i and the friction land wear which would be thereby produced.`

r'Iheoreopairedemotion is given to lthemain ishaifti` (w)l for thereciprocating motionl ,of

(the carriageL byra lmangle ywheelE) Aoper-i ,l ated l inl fthei usualmanner i of` thev mangle lwheehmotionby; a pinion (G)Mand guide molds sot that `by the` i reciprocating rotary` g roller.w(f1 )o on the end Vof`the Vrotating and? i.

lvilorating shaft .(J which ,receivesmotioni lfromany `first mover Inacverticali line` labovethe main shaft risfanothershaft (X)d whichcarries a cylinder. (E )1. the periphery 1lof,.whichrunsioni-thenupper,surface; of the, .n

l carriage` of Lmolds for the purpose...of i foro-v ing the clay intothe molds. A portion of the periphery of the cylinder is cut away as at(a). The shaft (X) has a cog wheel (Y) which receives motion fromanother cog wheel (Z) on the main shaft for the purpose of giving therequired reciprocating rotary motion to the cylinder that its peripherymay move with the carriage of molds; the proportions of the two cogwheels and the cylinder should be such as to insure an equal movement.

The cylinder is surrounded by a cast iron clay boX or hopper (C) whichreceives the clay to feed the molds, the clay being previouslypulverized or otherwise prepared.

The clay from the hopper enters the molds and as the carriage runs underthe cylinder it is forced and compressed into the molds by the peripheryof the cylinder, and as the molds move on toward either end of themachine the bricks pass under a sharp edge (22) at the ends of thehopper which strikes off the surplus clay should there be any and sosoon as the molds have passed from under the hopper the end of the rackof the carriage strikes against a roller atone end of a secondarycarriage or movable platform mounted on rollers (6 e) which turn oninclined ways (f f) and as the rollers are carried up these in` clinedways the upper surface of the carriage or platform comes in contact withthe stems of the followers of the molds and forces them up to dischargethe bricks from the. molds. The roller (n) against which the end of therack strikes, allows the platform to rise with but little friction.There is a like arrangement at each end and two sets of molds in thecarriage that a set of bricks may be molded as the carriage moves ineither direction.

At the end of either movement of the carriage a pin represented by redlines (L) strikes against a pin that projects down from the .under faceof a wedge which pin slides in a slot in the frame of the machine an'dthis wedge against a bar (O) to push the discharged bricks from thesurface of the followers and as soon as this bar is started theattendant draws the bar by hand to remove the bricks. The bar is carriedback when liberated by the attendant by weight attached to a cordpassing over a pulley as shown in the drawing, and the weight should besufficient to force back the wedge so soon as it is relieved by t-heback motion of the carriage. A like arrangement is employed at each end.The pressing cylinder is made hollow as also itsV shaft and to one endof the shaft is coupled by a turning coupling joint a steam pipe (L)Yleading from a steam boiler or generator, and to the other end iscoupled in like manner an exhaust pipe. By this means a current of steamis passed through the cylinder to keep it in a heated state whichartificial heat of the surface will prevent the clay and near to theinner periphery of the cyl-r inder so that the steam can only escapethrough this pipe. And this pipe is also used to pump out of thecylinder-the water that may accumulate therein by the condensation ofthe steam.

This method of preventing the adhesion of the clay to the surface isvequally applicable to the platen of a reciprocating press as also to thebottom or follower, the sides of the molds, the clay boX and the knifeor sharp edge by making these parts hollow and providing them with pipesfor the admission'of steam. A hollow, heated rubber or roller may beapplied for the purpose of smoothing the upper surface of the bricksafter they have passed under the cutting edge of the knife, and it willbe obvious from the foregoing that any other method of applyingartificial heat may be substituted for steam, such as passing heated airthro-ugh the hollow parts, but we have described the mode which we haveessayed with success and which we deem the best.

l/Vhat we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentisl. The method of preventing clay from adhering to the surfaces whichmake pressure on it or in which it is pressed or molded by theapplication of artificial'heat to such surfaces substantially as hereindescribed.

2. And we also claim the method of elevating the followers of the moldsfor discharging the bricks by combining with the carriage of molds aplatform o-r carriage which slides on inclined ways yand which receivesmotion from a carriage of molds subst-antially in the manner and for thepurpose specified.

THOMAS CULBERTSON. GEORGE SCOTT. Witnesses present:

CHAUNGEY BULKLEY, MOSES HAGER.

